My college dorm is lonely and I want a turtle. Or maybe a fish. What do I need to know?
>>2061644
Get a small 5 gal tank and get a dwarf pufferfish. So much personality, they actually watch you and pay attention to what your doing in the room. Perfect fish with large personality, in a little tank.
>>2061644
I would advise against turtles, at least aquatic ones. They get fucking huge, like need-a-kiddie-pool huge, smell awful, cost a lot in set up, need a lot of care.
I like shrimp, they are really cool to watch.
>>2061644
Get a small scorpion
Don't need more than a 5-10 gallon tank. It's an interesting animal to watch, but if you want something to interact to, you're out of luck here.
This is my H. Arizonensis
>>2061712
>Get a small scorpion
No
![167ce9345fea71561fefdc4821ca13a0[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/IObIENk.jpg "167ce9345fea71561fefdc4821ca13a0[1].jpg")
>>2061650
I second this. Puffer fish are awesome.
>>2061644
>What do I need to know?
That your college dorm isn't big enough for a proper turtle setup.
Also, aquatic turtles live 10-20 years, and tortoises live 25-100+ years
Get a Pacman frog and feed it puffer fish and scorpions
>>2061644
Yeah turtles and also tortoises need very big habitats. I consider the less challenging tortoise species easier than turtles simply because you're not dealing with a water feature and all the work that entails.
Fresh water fish, small ones, are much easier.
Pacman frog as anon above suggested is quite easy but they are not very active. They will exist, and you can see whatever portion of their body happens to be above the substrate but they pretty much sit there, staring, unless it's feeding time.
Consider also, small gecko, small snake. Those are easy and semi-active (more than frog).
>>2061963
>10-20 years
I wish this was true. My parents let me get a res when I was in 2nd grade. 22 years later the thing is still alive. I'm counting the days till I'm free.
>>2062024
I'm terrified of snakes, so that's out of the question. Even if it's a little garter snake, something about the fact that they feel no love and it'd eat me if it was big enough unsettles me.
>>2061712
Though I'm scared of arachnids even more.
>>2061650
Might take up that suggestion. Seems like a turtle requires more space than I thought it would, so it's gonna have to be some kind of fish anyway.
I don't know much about buying fish, but it should be alright to get them from the shady, Chinatown fish store, right?
>>2062053
How on earth could your parents not know that turtles live a long time?
It's kind of a well-known thing.
>>2062091
As long as the fish don't look sickly in the tank then buy one or two. Just make sure to have a tank that's well filtered, and is around 5 gals at least. Also, I would setup the tank beforehand, go to the LFS and pickup some pond snails, typically people think of them as a pest, but puffers love to eat the little dudes, and the hardest part of keeping pea puffers is getting them to eat (usually has to be frozen bloodworms), but if you get a healthy colony of pond snails, your puffer will have a virtually unlimited source of fresh, live food, and you don't even have to remember to feed him! I've been doing this is my puffer tank for two months now. Just make sure you are buying 'dwarf pea puffers', everything else will grow to large for a 5gal, which you could still do if you are okay with upgrading to a 30gallon tank when you leave the dorms
>>2062091
>something about the fact that they feel no love and it'd eat me if it was big enough unsettles me.
Turtles and fish are somehow different?
>>2062230
It'd be pretty tough for my puffer to eat me... something tells me he's plotting though...
>>2061650
I've been interested in those, but don't they need live food, like bloodworms?
>>2062230
A turtle or fish would eat you even faster than a snake would if they were big enough.
Get a couple female mice OP! They are easy to care for, not hard to keep clean, and if gotten when really young, they don't mind being in your hands for a few minutes throughout the day.
>>2062230
Or a cat for that matter.
>>2062574
ew mice.
>>2062576
> keeping a cat in a dorm room
>>2062053
Well its GENERALLY 10-20. Just like how some breeds they say they live 12-15 years. Doesnt mean that some dogs of that breed will make it to 20 or longer.
Also, well taken care of animals live longer in captivity than they do in the wild. RES can easily make it past 20 years, and a few rare specimens have made it over 30
>>2062596
I think he was trying to point out that a cat is like a snake. If it was big enough, it would try to eat you.
>>2062576
>>2062593
But mice are cuddly and cute and don't need as much room as rats or guinea pigs...actually, rats aren't a bad idea either. You can potty train them, train them to do tricks, and they have pretty dog like personalities.
Anyway, I just suggest against something aquatic unless you want a hobby because fish are a pain in the but to take care of most of the time.
>>2062607
I love my fishies :) And corals
>>2062608
That's beautiful! Man...I wish I had some more time for a hobby like that. As soon as I can get a job in town, I want to try to make an indoor cold water pond or something similar. And by pond, I mean something the size of a small table with as much of a functioning ecosystem as I can get.
I also want some mice again. I miss haveing mice so much, they are so goddamn cute and easy to take care of. Plus they don't need as much attention as rats.
>>2062616
That would be awesome! I have an interesting idea for something like that too if you'd like... You could do a large freshwater tank (or you could do it as a hole-in-the-ground pond, but preferably a tank, which you could pretty easily make yourself) and stock it with crayfish, and a couple of fahaka puffers, or a single mbu puffer, and let them hunt. You may want to do a sump setup, and keep most of the breeding crayfish in the sump, and toss a cray in every day or so, but it could very easily work if executed properly.
>>2062630
I was working over a plan in the aquarium thread for a bit, but in reality it could be a year or two before I have the chance to even try it. I was thinking some white cloud minnows though for sure, and maybe a few other tank mates to go with them. I want to keep the fish/other creatures very small and focus more on the plants and island aspects of it. I wanted to have a tiny water fall going too in one corner.
It's just a project idea though, we'll see if I can actually do it or not when I get enough time.
